Cleaning device



Patented May 3, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT orrice 5 Claims.

My invention relates, in general, to Cleaning devices, and more particularly'to cleaning devices adapted to be inserted into a longitudinal opening such as, for example, the bore of a gun for 5 cleaning the deposits from the inner surface of the longitudinal opening.

An object of my invention is the provision of a cleaning device adapted to be inserted into the bore of the barrel of a gun and shear the lead and other deposits from the inner surface of the bore.

A further object of my invention is the provision of a cleaning device comprising a longitudinal unit having a recess and an expansible shearing member adapted to fit in the recess; wherein the entire combination may be inserted into the bore of the barrel of a gun and cause the expansible shearing member to engage and shear the deposits from the inner surface of the bore.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a cleaning device comprising a longitudinal unit constructed of a plurality of assembled parts and arranged to hold an expansible shearing member, so that when the cleaning device is inserted into the bore of a gun, the expansible shearing member engages and shears the lead and other deposits from the inner surface of the bore.

A still further object of my invention is the provision of a cleaning device having an expansible shearing member in the form of a coil.

Other objects anda fuller understanding of my invention may be had by referring to the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 represents a view of a gun into which my cleaning device may be inserted.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the barrel of the gun and illustrates my cleaning device when mounted in the bore of the gun,

Figure 3 is an exploded View of the various assembled parts that constitute my cleaning device,

Figure 4 is a modified view of my cleaning device in that the expansible shearing member is constructed in the form of a coil, and

Figure 5 shows the modified form of my cleaning device when inserted in the bore of the barrel of the gun. v

In the maintenance of the bore of a fire arm, it is highly essential that the lead and other residue, which is deposited upon the inner surface of the bore, be cleaned after using the fire arm. If the lead or other deposits isnot removed, the

(Cl. lb-91) bore of the fire arm will become rusted and corroded, and if allowed to continue the bore will become pitted underneath the lead and other deposits. .If an attempt is made to clean the gun after it has once become pitted, the inner surface of the bore will still be rough and upon further shooting, the lead and other deposits will have a greater tendency to adhere to these rough and pitted places more than it will to a smooth surface. 10

Upon the application of my cleaning device, this lead and other deposits is cut or sheared away; at the same time smoothing the roughened and pitted places.

With reference to the drawing, I have illus- Iii trated my invention in connection with a shot gun which has a smooth bore being devoid of rifiing grooves. As illustrated, my cleaning device is adapted to be removably attached to the end of a ramrod l5 and arranged to be inserted into the bore of the barrel iii of the illustrated gun. In general, the cleaning device comprises a longitudinal body unit constructed of a plurality of assemblable parts and two spaced eXpa-nsible shearing members 26 mounted upon the longi 25 tudinal body unit. Inasmuch as the construction of each expansible shearing member and each end of the longitudinal body unit is the same, I have designated the corresponding parts by like reference characters. 30

Themain longitudinal body member 25 is round and has an outside diameter that is somewhat less than the inside diameter of the bore of the barrel ll] of the gun. Upon each end of the longitudinal body member 2i is pro-vided a round 3 extension 22 which has a diameter less than that of the main body member 2 I. The outer ends of the extension 2'2 are provided with male threads 23 adapted to receive the nuts 21. A stepped collar 2t having a central opening is arranged to 40 fit snugly but freely over each of the extensions 22. As illustrated, the stepped collar 26 is provided with a reduced stepped portion 25 about which the expansible shearing member 26 is mounted so that when the stepped collar 2 is 45 secured against each end of the main body member 2| by means of a nut 21, there are provided two spaced circumferential recesses for holding the expansible shearing members against endwise movement. The expansible shearing members 26 may be cut at a bias as indicated by the reference character 28. As illustrated, the shearing edges of the expansible shearing members are substan tially square so that when my cleaning device is inserted into the bore of the barrel of a gun, the

said expansible shearing members make a good clean shearing action to remove all of the lead and other deposits. The longitudinal body unit is long enough so as to avoid rounding of the square edges of the expansible shearing mem bers as the cleaning device is inserted into the bore of the barrel of a gun.

The threaded extensions 23 are longer than the thickness of the nuts 21 so that the threaded part which extends beyond the nut 21 may be threadably engaged to the female threads IS in the metal end l6 that is pinned to the ramrod l5 by meansof the pin H.

In using my cleaning device, it is first inserted in the enlarged breeched end H of the barrel of the gun. The outside diameter of the expansible shearing members 25 is slightly less than the inside diameter of the enlarged breeched end ll of the barrel. This means that the cleaning device may thereby be easily inserted into the breeched end of the barrel. Then the ramrod I5 is pushed until the cleaning device passes the restriction i3 and enters the longitudinal main section of the barrel It). At the place where the expansible shearing members 26 pass the restriction l3, the ramrod 5 may be pushed quite hard until the expansible shearing members 26 are fully compressed. The bore of the main longitudinal portion of the barrel [0 is straight and as the cleaning device is pushed therealong, the expansible shearing members 26 shear and cut the lead and other deposits from the inside surface of the bore of the barrel. The cleaning device is pushed until the forward end thereof engages the restriction l4 which leads up to the choke l2 at the forward end of the barrel. At this point the cleaning device may be Withdrawn entirely from the bore of the gun and whatever loose particles which may remain in the bore of the gun after the cleaning device is removed, may be wiped out in the usual manner by means of a polishing cloth or the like. The choke l2 at the end of the gun is relatively short and it appears advisable from common practice not to attempt to clean or polish the choke" by a shearing action as provided by my invention but can be cleaned by other means since it is readily accessible.

The expansible shearing members 26 are constructed of relatively soft material so that it is not hard enough to cause any damage to the bore of the gun. Yet on the other hand, the expansible shearing members 26 have a. good wearing quality so that they have a relatively long life. It is found in actual practice that the expansible shearing members 26 may be constructed of suitable bearing material such as bronze or the like.

In some cases where the bore of the barrel of the gun has become pitted to such an extent that the passing of the cleaning device through the bore of the gun is not sufficient to remove all of the pits, then my cleaning device may be used to hone the inner surface of the bore by means of very fine abrasive or pumice until the pits have all been removed. In'the honing operation, the expansible shearing members 26 which are preferably constructed of bronze may be replaced by other expansible members which give better action than the bronze expansible shearing members.

In Figures 4 and 5, I show a modified form of my invention in that the expansible shearing member 31 is in the form of a coil which is mounted upon a longitudinal body member 3| having a fixed head 32 and a removable head 33 that is connected to the other end of the body member 3| by means of the nut 36 which engages the male threads 35. The removable head 33 has an'opening which is adapted to snugly but freely engage a reduced portion 34 of the body member 3|. The shearing edges of the coil 31 are substantially square so that as the cleaning device is pushed through the bore of the barrel of the gun, it engages and cuts the lead and other deposits from the. inner surface. As shown in Figure 4, the coil 3'! is shorter than the space between the fixed head 32 and the removable head 33, but when the cleaning device is inserted into the bore of the gun, the outside diameter of the coil is reduced to the inside diameter of the bore of the gun in which case the length of the coil 31 elongates and fills substantially the entire space between the fixed head 32 and the removable head 33. The application of my modified form of my cleaning device is substantially the same as that described with reference to the preferred form of my invention as shown in Figures 2 and 3. In both forms of my invention, it is noted that the action is to shear and clean the lead and other deposits from the bore of the barrel of the gun.

Although I have described my invention with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. A cleaning device adapted to be inserted into a barrel of a gun for cleaning deposits from the inner surface thereof, said barrel having an enlarged breech, a tapered restriction, and a relatively long bore, comprising, in combination, longitudinal means having a circumferential re cess with two side walls, a resilient and expansible open ring shearing member adapted to fit into the recess, the said shearing member having two sides for engaging the side walls of the recess, an inner peripheral surface having a diameter less than the diameter of the longitudinal means and an outer peripheral surface having a diameter greater than the diameter of the longitudinal means for engaging the inner surface of the barrel of the gun, the outer peripheral surface of said shearing member when in its resiliently expanded form being of a diameter to permit the ready insertion thereof into the breech of the barrel and being of a diameter when gradually and resiliently contracted after passing through the tapered restriction to expansibly engage the bore with strong resiliency for shearing deposits from the bore, said shearing member also having a shearing edge at the junction defined by one of said sides and the outer peripheral surface,

' and aligning means spaced longitudinally from said shearing member and associated with the longitudinal means for aligning the shearing member in the longitudinal opening and for causing the shearing edge to make intimate contact with, and to shear the deposits from, the inner surface of the barrel.

2. A cleaning device adapted to be inserted into a barrel of a gun for cleaning deposits from the inner surface thereof, said barrel having an enlarged breech, a tapered restriction, and a relatively long bore, comprising, in combination, 1ongitudinal means having a plurality of parts adapted to be assembled and secured together, the arrangement of the said assembled parts being such as to provide a circumferential recess panded form being of a diameter to permit the ready insertion thereof into the breech of .the barrel and being of a diameter when gradually and resiliently contracted after passing through the tapered restriction to expansibly engage the bore with strong resiliency for shearing deposits from the bore, said shearing member also having a shearing edge at the'junction defined by one of said sides and the outer peripheral surface, and aligning means spaced longitudinally from said shearing member and associated with the longitudinal means for aligning the shearing member in the barrel and for causing the shearing edge to make intimate contact with, and to shear the deposits from, the inner surface of the barrel.

3. A cleaning device adapted to be inserted into the barrel of a gun for cleaning the deposits upon the inner surface thereof, said barrel having an enlarged breech, a tapered restriction, a relatively long bore, and a choke, comprising, in combination, a longitudinal body member having an extension on one end, said longitudinal body member having a diameter smaller than the bore but larger than the choke, a stepped collar having a reduced stepped portion and a central opening to fit over the said extension, means for holding the stepped collar upon the said extension, the arrangement of the longitudinal body member and the stepped collar being such as to provide a circumferential recess with two side walls, a resilient and. expansible open ring shearing member adapted to fit into the recess, the said shearing member having two sides for engaging the side walls of the recess, an inner peripheral surface having a diameter less than the diameter of the longitudinal means and an outer peripheral surface having a diameter greater than the diameter of the longitudinal means for engaging the inner surface of the barrel of the gun, the outer peripheral surface of said shearing member when in its resiliently expanded form being of a diameter to permit the ready insertion thereof into the breech of the barrel and being of a diameter when gradually and resiliently contracted after passing through the tapered restriction to expansibly engage the here with strong resiliency for shearing deposits from the bore, said shearing member also having a shearing corner at the junction defined by one of said sides and the outer peripheral surface, and aligning means spaced longitudinally from said shearing member and associated with the longitudinal means for aligning the shearing member in the barrel and for causing the shearing edge to make intimate contact with, and to shear the deposits from, the inner surface of the barrel.

4. A cleaning device adapted to be inserted into the barrel of a gun for cleaning the deposits upon the inner surface thereof, said barrel having an enlarged breech, a tapered restriction, and a relatively long bore, comprising, in combination, longitudinal means having a plurality of parts adapted to be assembled and secured together and arranged to have a diameter less than that of the bore of the barrel of the gun, the arrangement of the said assembled parts being such as to provide a plurality of spaced circumferential recesses, each recess having two side walls, a resilient and expansible open ring shearing member adapted to fit into each of said recesses, each of said shearing members having two sides for engaging the side walls of the recesses, an inner peripheral surface having a diameter less than the diameter of the longitudinal means and an outer peripheral surface having a diameter greater than the diameter of the longitudinal means for engaging the inner surface of the barrel of the gun, the outer peripheral surface of said shearing member when inits resiliently expanded form being of a diameter to permit the readyinsertion thereof into the breech of the barrel and being of a diameter when gradually and resiliently contracted after passing through the tapered restriction to expansibly engage the bore with strong resiliency for shearing deposits from the bore, each of said shearing members also having a shearing edge at the junction defined by one of said sides and the outer peripheral surface, said shearing members being spaced longitudinally along said longitudinal means so as to align themselves in the barrel and to cause the shearing edges to make intimate contact with, and to shear the deposits from, theinner surface of the barrel.

5. A cleaning device adapted to be inserted into the barrel of a gun for cleaning the deposits upon the inner surface thereof, said barrel having an enlarged breech, a tapered restriction,

and a relatively long bore, comprising, in combination, a longitudinal body member having a diameter less than that of the bore of the barrel of the gun, a second member and a third member respectively adapted to be removably connected to each end of the longitudinal body member, the arrangement of the longitudinal body member and the second member and the third member being such as to provide two spaced circumferential recesses, each having two side walls, a resilient and expansible open ring shearing member adapted to fit into each of said recesses, each of said shearing members having two sides for engaging the side walls of the recesses, an inner peripheral surface having a diameter less than the diameter of the longitudinal body and an outer peripheral surface having a diameter greater than the diameter of the longitudinal body, for engaging the inner surface of the barrel of the gun, the outer peripheral surface of said shearing member when in its resiliently expanded form being of a diameter to permit the ready insertion thereof into the breech of the barrel and being of a diameter when gradually and resiliently contracted after passing through the tapered restriction to expansibly engage the bore with strong resiliency for shearing deposits from the bore, each of said shearing members also having a shearing edge at the junction defined by one of said sides and the outer peripheral surface, said shearing members being spaced 1ongitudinally along said longitudinal body so as to align themselves in the longitudinal opening and to cause the shearing edges to make intimate contact with, and to shear the deposits from, the inner surface of the barrel.

ARTHUR P. GRASSER. 

